The Malfoy Manual
by white-angelxhunter
Summary: Hermione thinks she has the perfect plan to divert Harry’s attention from Cho: go out with his arch-enemy, Draco Malfoy. Things take a turn in the wrong direction, though, when she finds herself developing unwanted feelings for a certain blonde Slytherin.
1. Chapter 1

The Malfoy Manual

My first draco x hermione fic.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter ain't mine.

* * *

I.

Hermione could only watch in silence as Cho Chang entered the library, Harry at her heels. Cho didn't even bother looking at him as she slid into a chair beside her friends, talking animatedly and flipping her hair once in a while, to Hermione's great annoyance.

"Honestly, Ron. Just look at him." she fumed, crossing her arms over her chest. "She's got him trailing behind her like a lovesick puppy."

"I doubt you would think that way if he was trailing behind _you_ like a lovesick puppy." Ron commented without taking his eyes off his homework. "Besides, you have other things to think about. Don't you want to do well in your N.E.W.T.s?"

Hermione sighed. "Well, I do. Although I haven't quite decided what I want to go into when I graduate yet."

Her eyes wandered from Harry and Cho to the other occupants in the library. Far off into the corner, a bunch of Slytherins sat huddled, probably plotting to ruin someone else's life. She spotted Draco Malfoy looking pensively at the ceiling. Slowly, an outrageous idea started to creep into her mind. She turned to look at Ron in a fit of excitement.

"Ron, I've got it!" She said enthusiastically.

"That's nice." Ron replied, noncommittally. "I told you it wasn't that hard to think up of an occupation."

"No, Ron. Not _that_." Hermione said, bubbling with excitement. "I know how to make Harry notice me. I can go out with Malfoy to make him jealous!" She looked expectantly at the red-haired boy in front of her.

"I think the plan would be absolutely perfect..." Ron began. "…if you two did not absolutely _hate_ each other's guts!" He finished.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures, Ron." Hermione replied calmly. "Besides, he's a Slytherin. I'm sure he's bribable."

Ron looked at her as if she had grown another arm. "Hermione, you are not seriously thinking about pushing through with this, are you?"

"Maybe." Hermione said. But the wheels were already turning inside her head.

* * *

The next day, she found Draco strutting around the school making passes at every girl he laid his eyes on, utterly confident and completely certain that he was God's gift to women. Hermione reeled at him in disgust, but decided that if she was going to get Harry's attention away from Cho, she needed someone who was as visible as an over-sized peacock. The fact that there was a never-ending animosity between the two would also contribute to her goal.

'_The sooner that Harry finds out, the better.'_ Hermione thought. _'I highly doubt I could stand being with Malfoy for even a short time, even if it is just pretend.'_

She followed Draco all the way to the Prefects' bathroom, where he started to take his shirt off before he spotted her.

"What is this, Granger?" He drawled. "Did you want to catch a glimpse of me taking a shower?" Hermione tried to resist the urge of turning him into a slimy, purple frog.

"No, Malfoy." She said, through her teeth. "I wanted to talk to you. I need your help with a problem of mine."

There was something about the malicious glint in his eyes that perturbed her, but she ignored it and continued on. "It's about my—"

"--I'm sorry, Granger, but if this is about your looks, you'd need more than just my advice to improve on them." He interrupted. Hermione had to satisfy herself with attacking Draco in her mind with sharp claws for catharsis.

"I'm not here for that. I need you to do something for me." She paused. "I want _you_ to pretend you're dating _me_ to make Harry jealous."

Draco burst out laughing.

"Make Harry jealous? What is this? Second year?" He asked incredulously. There was a huge smirk plastered on his face that Hermione desperately wanted to wipe off.

"It's not funny!" She retorted. "Anyway, if you can't help me, I'm going to go ask someone else." She started to stomp off, but Draco caught her wrist.

"No, wait." He said. The smirk was still there. "This sounds a bit interesting. What did you have in mind?" Hermione turned to face him, and then shoved the leaflet she was holding into his hands.

"What is this?" He asked, confusion on his face. "Another one of your Save-The-House-Elves campaigns?"

"Those are the rules of this deal." Hermione replied. "If you're ready, sign the contract on the last page. If you do, you'd be bound to the deal by magic."

"And what do I get out of this?" Draco inquired. Hermione was prepared for the question. She knew that he would never do anything for her--or anyone for that matter--for free.

"I know that you're grounded until you can improve on some of your grades. I happen to know someone who could tutor you to get your grades up." She said.

"Really?" Draco replied. "Which teacher did you sleep with to get him to agree to tutoring me?"

"_I'm_ going to be your tutor!" Hermione snapped. "And I'm going to see to it that you get the best grades that you've ever gotten in your life!"

'_So just sign the stupid contract already.'_ Hermione thought impatiently. _'Honestly, it hasn't even begun, and I'm already so sick of him.'_

Draco was flipping through the manual she gave him.

"Rule #43, You are not allowed to be seen with any woman in an intimate position. That's going to be a tough one." He commented. "Rule #75, You have to tell me the truth, and nothing but the truth with regards to this deal at all times. Rule #138, You will do your best to make Harry jealous, even if you no longer feel like it. Rule #218, You are not to tell anyone of our deal. How many effing rules are in this book anyway?" He asked irritably. "Why are there so many?"

'_Because I don't trust you_.' Hermione thought.

"It's just a safeguard to protect me." She said out loud. "You can think up of your own rules too."

"Well, okay." Draco said. "Fine. I'll do it if it means getting the grades that my father wants so badly. You'd just better make sure you fulfill your end of the bargain." He paused to look at the manual. "I don't really have any rules to add. I believe these are more than enough." He said, looking pointedly at her.

"Good." Hermione said, breathing a sigh of relief. At least he had agreed without her resorting to Plan B, which could have gotten ugly. "The deal is off when there is a clear indication that Harry is already jealous." She added satisfactorily.

Draco gave her a noncommittal shrug. "Well, you do know I'm a jerk. So I won't be held liable for screwing anything up." He said casually, as he signed the contract.

There was something in his tone that made her think that he was pertaining to screwing something other than their deal.

* * *

I'd appreciate it if you tell me what you think. Toodles.


	2. Chapter 2

The Malfoy Manual

Thank you for the reviews, alerts, messages and favorites. I really appreciate them. I'm glad you had as much fun reading it as I had writing it.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter ain't mine.

* * *

II.

"Honestly, Ron. I really do _not_ understand how all those girls can even _stand_ being with him for more than ten seconds." Hermione was positively livid. "He has the ego the size of the distance between _here_ to _Pluto_ and back!"

"Tell me something I don't already know, Hermione." Ron said, rolling his eyes. "I told you this whole make-Harry-jealous-with-that-stupid-ferret thing wouldn't work out. Did he even agree?"

Hermione wasn't listening to Ron.

"He has this cocky way of _looking_ at you as if he knows everything. _As if!_ He can't even pass Transfiguration!" Her brown eyes flashed angrily. "He's the most annoying, arrogant, repulsive, obnoxious, evil, self-centered bas--_Oh_, Ron, did I mention that he has the _dreamiest_ silver-grey eyes?" Hermione gushed suddenly. Ron lifted his head so abruptly that he was absolutely sure he pulled every single one of his neck muscles.

"Hello guys." Harry said, looking quizzically at the pair. "Who are you talking about?"

Ron narrowed his eyes at Hermione.

"Just this new guy I'm going out with." Hermione said casually.

"Do I know him?" Harry asked, wagging his eyebrows at her.

"Of course you do, Harry." She replied, beaming brightly. "He's just the _sweetest_ angel ever. He's _such_ a gentleman, and he has the loveliest blonde hair I've ever seen. He's even Head Boy!" She added, clasping her hands to her chest.

"Head Boy?" Harry frowned. "Blonde hair?"

Comprehension dawned on his face. "Silver-grey eyes? _Malfoy? _That repulsive pile of dung?!" He asked incredulously, looking as if he was lost in a very strange dream.

"Isn't he simply _heavenly_?" Hermione sighed happily. Ron could barely keep himself from rolling his eyes all the way to the back of his head.

"Did you eat a _really_ bad jelly bean?" Harry asked suspiciously. "There's a new flavor out that looks exactly like brown snot with moss-like speckles on it. I didn't have the nerve to try it. Looked too much like Malfoy."

"I haven't eaten Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans in _years_, Harry." Hermione said. "I've just decided that…well, I want to try to get over things that didn't really work out." She lowered her eyes on the floor. She had confessed her feelings to Harry after he had _finally_ gathered up the courage to ask Cho out, and let's just say that it hadn't been pretty.

"I've decided it was time to try and go out with someone else!" She added brightly.

Harry looked a bit stunned.

Finally, he said: "If that's what will make you happy, Hermione."

She tried to smile although she couldn't quite meet his eyes. She hadn't expected Harry to be so…_submissive_. It was as if he _didn't care_.

'_Maybe he doesn't.'_ Hermione thought sadly, as she watched Harry go up to the boys' dormitories to change for his study date with Cho later that night.

Hermione was still feeling a bit down as she made her way to the library, her thick books in tow. She wasn't really looking forward to seeing Harry and Cho together during their study date, but she couldn't concentrate in the noisy common room. Ron had gone off to bed so she had no choice but to go alone. She wished she had asked one of her girlfriends to accompany her, but they were all so busy with their significant others that they barely even had time to say hi to her anymore.

She walked slowly down the hall, feeling lonely and depressed, thinking about what she could do to make Harry believe that she was so much better than Cho in so many ways. She couldn't think of anything, which made her feel all the more worse.

When she got to her usual spot in the library, she was surprised to see a bouquet of silver roses on the table. There was a small envelope stuffed between the flowers. Curious, she set her books down on the table so she could pick it up and read it.

_Granger_

The handwriting was so tiny she almost needed a magnifying glass to view it. It was as if whoever wrote it was so ashamed of writing her name. Her eyes narrowed.

'_That stupid idiot.'_

She knew from the start where the flowers had come from. There was only one guy in Hogwarts that sent silver roses to every girl he wanted to date. It was his signature. If any female was found out to be carrying a bouquet of silver roses, everybody knew who wanted her as his next objective.

She quickly opened the envelope to find a small piece of parchment inside.

_Roses are red, _

_Violets are blue, _

_Weasel's a dork, _

_And so are you._

'_Arrogant git_.' Hermione thought to herself. But still, it was pretty nice of him to get her flowers. They hadn't talked about it or anything.

Hermione frowned. Did he actually display thoughtfulness here? Was that even possible?

She looked at the note again, and then picked up the flowers. She had always thought of what it would feel like to receive those silver roses. She knew they were enchanted to sparkle so brightly and last longer than usual. She had never seen anything more beautiful. It made her feel special just looking at them, touching them.

She drew her face closer to the flowers. They smelled really good. There was a faint hint of vanilla on the petals.

She felt her face breaking into a smile.

'_He sure is an obnoxious bastard, but he sure knows how to make a girl happy._' she thought, her mood lifting as she settled down to tackle her homework for the night, all thoughts of Harry gone for the meantime.

* * *

As soon as Harry arrived in the library, he noticed the bouquet of silver roses sitting on Hermione's usual place. He knew who they were from. Everybody knew.

His first instinct was to walk up to the table, trample them silly and then shove them up Malfoy's ass.

Cho's tinkling laughter snapped him out of his violent thoughts.

"What did you think of what she said, Harry?" Cho asked him, giggling. Her long black hair flowed beautifully as she flipped her hair.

"Uh…I'm sorry Cho, I wasn't quite paying attention." Harry said sheepishly.

Cho merely laughed.

"Oh, Harry, you're _so_ absent-minded." she said, turning to face her friends. She didn't bother looking at him again for a while.

Harry sighed. He was supposed to be on a study _date_ with Cho, but she was always finding excuses to be with her posse. It wasn't that he hated them, it was just annoying because they barely had time alone together. As he zoned out of Cho's conversation with her giggly friends for the five hundredth time that night, his eyes wandered off to Hermione's usual spot and saw that she was already there, smelling the flowers.

There was a small smile on her lips and she looked quite pleased. Harry frowned at her reaction.

'_Those flowers came from a venomous, cold-blooded Slytherin monster. How could she look at them as if they were even remotely pretty?'_ He thought irritably. He felt Cho tugging his arm excitedly.

"Look, Harry. Hermione got _the_ flowers!" she exclaimed. "Can you believe it? He actually likes her! I thought they hated each other."

"That's what I thought too." Harry replied dryly. Harry felt betrayed. How could she go out with his enemy after confessing that she actually liked—

Harry felt his face flush. It was true that Hermione had gone up to him and told him outright that she had feelings for him. He had been quite confused, as all his attention had been on asking Cho out on a date at that time. Now that he had actually gone out with Cho for a few times, he was starting to think that he was better off trying to date Hermione instead.

At least, if Hermione dragged him to her posse, Ron wouldn't giggle or ask him billions of questions to find out what his _love style_ is from all those girly magazines.

"Harry, my friends are calling it a night." Cho told him, leaning against Harry's shoulder. Her friends exchanged knowing looks, as if Harry was dumb enough not to get what they were thinking.

He felt Cho slip her hand into his and he turned to face her and smiled. Cho, sweet and beautiful Cho. Even if she was glued to the hip to her friends, he still thought she was a quite a catch. When she looked at him, she looked at him as if he were the only man alive. When she looked at him, the whole world seemed to melt away and only the two of them remained.

Her face was moving closer and closer to his. He closed his eyes and leaned forward to kiss her--

"Hello, Harry!"

He felt Cho pull away abruptly and was startled to see Hermione looking at him with a bright smile on her face, the bouquet of silver roses in her arms. Cho's cheeks were flushed, probably because Harry's best friend had almost seen them kissing.

"I've finished studying and I'm heading back to the common room now. Do you want to walk back together?" She asked him, a little too enthusiastically. He didn't know how to send her telepathic messages telling her to let him finish kissing Cho, so he just stared at her stupidly instead.

"I'd better get going too, Harry!" Cho piped up quickly. Her cheeks were still flushed. Harry wanted to shove Hermione in a sack cloth and have his way with Cho.

'_Twenty seconds would have been more than enough_.'

Cho had quickly gathered up her things and practically dashed towards the door.

"No, wait, Cho, I'll walk you to your common room." Harry called to her.

"I'm okay, Harry!" She called back. "I'll see you tomorrow!" She blew him a kiss and was out the door in a second.

Harry watched her go, disappointed. He turned towards Hermione with his arms crossed.

"Hermione, I was _so close_ to kissing Cho and you _had_ to butt in on the moment." Harry was furious.

"Why, I never noticed, Harry." She replied innocently. "I thought you just had something on your face that Cho wanted to wipe off with her nose."

"Very funny." Harry replied sarcastically. "Go ahead and walk by yourself. It's not like anyone's going to attack you in the halls. I'm going to go say goodnight to Cho."

"You are such an _insensitive_ git!" Hermione suddenly snapped. She walked out of the library without another word.

Harry frowned. Girls. You never can understand them, even if you lived for a thousand years.

* * *

I would love to hear your thoughts on my fic. Send me a message, e-mail or review. Anything goes.


	3. Chapter 3

The Malfoy Manual

Enjoy the chapter. Sorry for the late update, been busy making beaded accessories. Very addictive.

* * *

III.

Hermione had expected him to be late, but to her surprise, he was even ten minutes early.

He was impeccably dressed in a crisp black outfit, which made him stand out all the more. Okay, who was she kidding? He looked absolutely fucking _amazing_.

'_Hermione, this is Malfoy we're talking about here.'_ She scolded herself.

But she remembered the roses he sent her and decided to compliment him. _Not_ because she thought he was hot or anything, it was just to reciprocate his act of thoughtfulness.

Not that she had thought the flowers were his way of being thoughtful. It was part of their deal, after all. This was just…being polite. Yeah, that was it. It never hurt to be polite, even to your enemies.

'_Okay. Here goes nothing!'_

"You look good." She heard herself say. The words floated in the air for a few moments, and there was an awkward pause.

Draco finally opened his mouth to speak.

"You'd look good too, if you actually _tried_." He said.

Hermione did not like the emphasis on the word '_tried'_.

'_The nerve of this stinkin' ferret!'_

Here she was, thinking he looked goo—no, being polite and paying him a complime—no, it was not a compliment, it was just a formality. _Being polite_. Yeah, that was it. Here she was, being polite, and that rude idiot had the _nerve_ not to…_be polite back!_

'_As if I could ever think that Malfoy was hot.'_ She thought, although it was much easier to think about if she wasn't looking at him.

"_So_." She said loudly, deciding to ignore his comment. "Let's get going."

They walked in silence across the hall. A group of girls were gathered at the entrance of the castle, and they got excited when they saw Draco.

'_They're actually _swooning_, for crying out loud.' _Hermione thought irritably_. 'What in the world?'_

Draco winked at one of them as he walked through the door. The girl actually fainted. Hermione glanced at her disgustedly.

'_What is this?'_ She thought grumpily, folding her arms over her chest. _'An Axe commercial?'_

Granted, he was a bit good-looking…_no_. Just _decent_-looking. But even so, he was still the most obnoxious man within the range of three hundred galaxies. There was just _no way_ he could still seem attractive after knowing _that_.

She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't even notice when Draco draped his arm around her shoulders. She glanced at him in shock and then threw his arm off so violently that he had to take a few moments to regain his composure.

"What are you _doing_, Granger?" He said, sounding very annoyed.

"Rule number 299 _clearly_ states that you are not allowed to touch me unless you asked permission!" Hermione hissed angrily. Draco just stared at her.

"Who has time to read your stupid rule book anyway?" He asked irritably. "Besides, where have you ever found two people who are going out and aren't allowed to touch each other?"

"We're an exception because we're just doing this for _pretend_!" Hermione replied vehemently.

"What is this? _1989_?" Draco muttered. "This is why I never date old-fashioned, goody-goody little nerds like you."

"Well girls like me are too good for _you_ anyway!" Hermione snapped, walking away from him. Draco watched her go, a bit stunned. No girl had ever told him that she was too good for Draco Malfoy. It was always Draco Malfoy that was too good for _them_.

He felt his lips form into a smirk.

* * *

It had taken more than ten minutes to console Hermione, owing to the fact that Draco would not—would _never_ apologize to anyone, much less someone who came from the Harry Potter trio. Thankfully, she was able to calm herself down and then sped off to the Three Broomsticks, where she knew Harry was taking Cho. Draco had followed suit.

"Why would anyone want to date a scumbag like you?" She muttered under her breath.

Draco heard her and merely smirked. "Well, Granger, I'll tell you why. 99 of the people who want to date me are dying to get shagged. And then there's the 1." He looked at her pointedly. "A.K.A., _you_." He waved the manual in her face for emphasis.

"Put that away!" Hermione hissed. "Harry might see it!"

As if on cue, Harry walked up to their table with a frown on his face.

"Cho went to the bathroom to freshen up." He said. He looked at Hermione and she felt like he was trying to read what she was thinking. She wanted to wipe the stupid, all-knowing smirk off Draco's face, which was distracting her badly.

"Did you want to entertain us, Potter?" Draco said in his leisurely drawl, wrapping one arm around Hermione and giving her a peck on the cheek. Hermione flushed from head to toe out of anger—or so, she tried to make herself believe.

'_The nerve of this stinking ferret!_' She thought furiously. '_I just freakin' __**told**__ him about Rule #299!'_

Harry frowned at them and was about to open his mouth to speak when Cho came back and linked her arm around Harry. She kissed him on the cheek in greeting.

"I promised Cho that we'd visit the sweets shop." Harry said stiffly.

"I can't wait to see the new delicious things they have for sale." Cho said sweetly, unaware of the tension in her immediate environment. "I'll see you guys later!"

She was smiling at them as she waved goodbye, her other hand held tightly by Harry. They were gone in a few moments.

"I bet 500 galleons that her kiss affected you more than my kiss affected Potty." Draco said confidently. Hermione didn't reply.

She didn't have 500 galleons to lose.

* * *

As soon as Harry and Cho had headed towards the sweets shop, Hermione and Draco proceeded to the library to initiate Plan B for the day.

Hermione was leafing through Draco's collection of love letters from his previous and not-so-previous affairs.

"I can't believe you keep them all!" Hermione said incredulously. "_And_ arranged alphabetically by sender too!"

"Yeah, for reference purposes." Draco replied. "I don't quite remember every single girl I've ever slept with, so they make for an easy reference."

Hermione picked up a particularly pink and scented one.

_Dear Dracokins,_

_All day and all night long, I dream of you and me--_

Hermione turned bright red.

"Do you have any, uh, non-X-rated ones?" She asked quickly, still pink from the letter that she had read. Draco merely shrugged.

"I don't know. I don't exactly memorize them." He replied. Hermione sighed.

Finally, she came across one that was decent. It was simple and sweet. She looked at the name at the bottom of the page.

"Myrtle?! As in _Moaning_ Myrtle?" She asked incredulously. Draco looked bored.

"I have no idea, okay? Just hurry up so I can go." He was really getting anxious to leave.

Hermione sighed again.

"Okay, fine. I'll choose this." She said, handing him the letter. Draco copied it by hand quickly and practically shoved it in her hands.

"There. Can I go now?" He asked, a bit hesitantly. Hermione nodded absent-mindedly.

"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow night during our rounds." She said, quickly scanning the note that Draco copied off the original letter. It looked okay enough…

When she looked up, Draco was already gone. She frowned.

'_Useless, gorgeous git.'_ She thought. It took her a full minute to realize what had just crossed her mind.

"What the hell was I thinking?" She said out loud. One student raised his head up from his book and looked at her oddly.

'_That obnoxious prick is _not_ hot._' She thought, angry at herself. _'He is an arrogant bastard who just happens to be really nice-looking.'_

She mentally slapped herself.

'_Maybe I'm just tired.'_ She thought. Yeah. That was it. She was just tired. She was already _imagining_ things.

'_You know you have a C-R-U-S-H on him.'_ A little voice inside her head said. Hermione forced herself to ignore it.

* * *

Later that evening, Hermione pretended to let the piece of paper slip out of her pocket, making sure that it was within Harry's line of vision. She saw him look at it quizzically as she stretched her arms.

"Hermione—" He started.

"I'm going to go to bed now, Harry." Hermione said, being careful not to look at the piece of parchment. It was enchanted with a spell that made whoever lay eyes on it want to read it, at all costs.

"Goodnight!"

She practically raced off to the girls' dormitories, leaving Harry stunned with his mouth slightly open.

Okay. What _was_ that?

His eyes fell on the piece of parchment that had accidentally slipped out of Hermione's pocket. He was curious, but he also wanted to respect Hermione's privacy.

There was just something about it that made him want to read it.

He reached out to pick it up and saw that it was addressed to her. He couldn't resist it. He couldn't explain why he really wanted to read the note, but he just felt that he had to.

Weird. He wasn't always like this about his friends' stuff.

He unfolded the piece of paper and scanned it quickly. With each line, he felt his face grow harder.

He was not happy about this. Not one bit.

* * *

Review me. I know you want to. – The Malfoy Manual, Chapter 3


	4. Chapter 4

IV

The Malfoy Manual

Hello! I'm glad to see that you're back. Have fun with this chapter. Sorry it took so long—I went on vacation.

* * *

Harry could not stop thinking about _the_ letter. He still wasn't sure if it was really written by that annoying yellow-haired rat he sees glued to Hermione all the time now. The contents actually had substance and a direction, something he thought Malfoy was born completely without.

_Dear Hermione,_ (Why the handwriting was so tiny in this part, he still wasn't sure)

_You've changed my life in so many ways. I used to think that the world was a dark and lonely place, but your smile fills the void in my heart like nothing else can. Every time I see you, I can't help but feel different. I feel more alive. I just hope I make you feel as special as you make me feel. _

_It's been a pleasure having you around to keep me grounded. I look forward to seeing you again. And again. And again._

_Love,_

_Draco_

Harry had read the letter so many times he had actually _memorized_ it. And, he could _almost_ do it without wanting to puke. Almost.

'_That stupid Slytherin ferret.'_ Harry thought bitterly. _'As soon as I get to him I'm gonna pluck every single feather off of his dead body. How _dare_ he fool Hermione into thinking he was _actually_ a human being?'_

"Harry, honey? Is everything okay?" Cho's concerned voice burst into his thoughts.

"Yeah, Cho." He said distractedly, mentally boiling Malfoy in his cauldron. "I just have some unfinished business with a ferr—end, that's all."

Cho smiled sweetly at him. "Well, okay. Do you want to run your errand now?"

Harry looked at her apologetically. "If you don't mind. It's kind of urgent."

Cho shook her head. "I don't mind at all. I'll see you tonight." She kissed Harry on the cheek and turned to leave.

Harry didn't even bother saying goodbye to Cho or escorting her back to her common room like he used to. He was simply too busy thinking about… _that_.

Draco had suddenly appeared in the corridors, carrying a stack of parchments and a couple of books. He looked like he was in a hurry. Harry frowned. Malfoy, studying? Where was the world coming to?

Harry estimated that Draco would be passing by the intersecting corridors anytime soon and decided that he just had to see for himself if the letter was genuine. Harry waited for a few seconds as Draco walked briskly through the hallway.

'_Okay…just a little more…'_

**CRASH!**

"Watch where you're going, you idiotic dodo-brain!" Draco snapped. His books and parchments were strewn all over the floor.

"I didn't see you coming." Harry lied. He was picking up Draco's stuff and staring intently at the writing.

'_Oh God. They match. Every single one of these parchments matches the handwriting on Hermione's letter!'_

"Potter. POTTER! YOU ARE AN IDIOT!" Draco was practically yelling at Harry before he looked up. Draco cleared his throat.

"You can show me how to act like a Muggle some other time." He said, irritated. "It just takes too long."

Draco waved his wand and all his books and parchments returned to his arms. Harry could only stare as the blonde-haired boy rushed once more to wherever it was he was going.

_'That letter…It was real.'_ He thought dumbly, as he watched Draco disappear into a corner.

* * *

"You're late, Mr. Malfoy." Hermione huffed, her hands on her hips. Draco merely smirked.

"I understand that you've missed me terribly since our last meeting, Ms. Granger, but I was only delayed for a minute or so." He said. He leaned closer to whisper in Hermione's ear, "But I'm all yours _now_."

Hermione blushed. "That's not what I meant!" She said hotly. "I wouldn't miss you even if I didn't see you for five hundred years!"

She couldn't look at him in the eye because the truth was, she had missed him. But just a little bit. A teeny, tiny bit.

Draco had started walking through the corridor as part of their patrol duty. Hermione followed him silently, still utterly confused about what she was really feeling about him. Did she really have a crush on him?

"I had to finish all my homework early to be up late with you tonight, Granger." Draco drawled. "You'd better be worth it."

Hermione knew he was joking, he was Head Boy and it was his duty. She just happened to be Head Girl, so he was with her. But she felt giddy, anyway.

"I haven't even done any homework yet." She admitted. "I wasn't really feeling well this afternoon, so Madam Pomfrey forced me to rest. I tried sneaking off to do my homework, but she caught me and threatened to chain me to the bed if I didn't behave."

Draco sighed. "Why do you have to be so goddamn _obsessed_ with a little piece of paper with just letters on it anyway?"

Hermione shrugged.

"I'm a workaholic. If I don't do anything productive for even a day, I'd _die_."

Draco sincerely did not doubt her words. "You're too stressed. When you grow up, you're going to turn into a wrinkly old hag." He looked at her. "Chill out. Why don't you just copy my homework?"

"Copy?! Off you? I will _never_ copy homework, much less from you. Do you want me to fail?" Hermione cried indignantly.

"Suit yourself." Draco said, shrugging. "But I do have some brains too, you know. Gotta have some use in the world."

Hermione seriously doubted it. "You? _Brains? _Half of it is already preoccupied with chasing after women, and the other half is already bursting thinking about yourself. There's nothing left in there to process _any_ piece of information."

Draco feigned a hurt look on his face. "That's not true." He said. "You know, I can make a really good truth serum." He added, looking quite proud of himself. "_And_, I can turn a turtle into a teacup without killing anybody."

Hermione burst out laughing at his stupidity. "Okay, fine."

"Feeling better tonight?" Draco asked suddenly, turning his head to look at her.

"Yeah, I'm good." Hermione replied, a bit surprised that he cared. "I just don't know how much I can keep up with my current workload. I'm trying to get as many N.E.W.T.s as I can, so I have all these extra subjects…"

"Oh, can't we talk about something else?" Draco interrupted. "School made you sick, and it makes me sick too. Don't you have any other interests beside stuffing your head with information you already know anyway?"

Hermione thought hard, but all she could think of was school…and house elves. She doubted Draco would want to talk about house elves.

He was looking at her with such a smug look on his face that Hermione wanted to slap him with _Hogwarts, A History._

"School is not all I think about." She said, haughtily. Draco just continued to smirk at her.

"Okay, fine then, Miss Granger. Let's talk about something else. So how many boys have you kissed so far?"

The question caught Hermione completely off-guard.

The truth was, the answer was zero. Nada. Nilch. None. She never thought of it as a big deal, until this moment.

"As a matter of fact…"

Draco looked expectantly at her.

"I haven't kissed anyone yet." Hermione finished.

Draco clapped his hands slowly. "Bravo. I had expected you to lie, but it seems you're actually proud to have had no fun in your life whatsoever."

Hermione didn't know how to respond to that, so she just returned the question to him. "So, how many girls have _you _kissed so far?"

"None that are meaningful." Draco replied. "But way more than how many _you've_ had." He said, laughing.

Hermione frowned. "Hey, you didn't answer my--"

"Did you hear that?" Draco interrupted. Hermione stopped talking to listen. She heard muffled sounds from the broom closet that they were standing near to.

"Yeah, do you think there are students in there?" She said suspiciously.

"I would bet my good looks that there are students in there, and that they're snogging." Draco replied confidently.

Hermione sighed. "Okay. On the count of three, we open it and send them back to bed. One, two…"

"Three!" Draco finished, opening the doors to the broom closet. Hermione froze.

Draco was absolutely right.

It was Harry and Cho Chang.

* * *

Hermione didn't realize what she did after she saw _them_. All she could remember was her running, running away, trying to erase the thought from her mind. Why did she have to see _that_?

She felt tears rolling down her cheeks before she realized she was crying. A hand landed on her shoulder, making her jump. She realized that it was Draco. His face was unreadable. At that time, though, she didn't care. She wrapped her arms around him and cried on his chest.

"You big baby!" Draco snarled. But he let her anyway.

For a minute Hermione just held him, sobbing. He was not moving an inch, his hands to his sides. Finally, he lifted one arm and gently placed it on her in a pseudo-hug.

With his hand on her back and her arms around him, Hermione felt a little bit better.


	5. Chapter 5

The Malfoy Manual

Disclaimer: Harry Potter ain't mine.

V.

* * *

"You know you can tell me anything, man, so just tell me. Why have you spending so much time with that geeky little Potter-fan, Granger?"

Draco merely raised an eyebrow at Blaise Zabini's question.

"It's complicated." He said finally, propping his feet on the table in front of the couch. Blaise sighed.

"I haven't been seeing you around lately. You've been chasing after her, or busy with your Head Boy duties, or…" He trailed off with a shudder.

"Studying?" Draco supplied, and with this Blaise exploded.

"Yeah, man! What happened to you? What happened to the good old days when we would sneak around and throw parties and tell each other of our exploits with the most gorgeous women in school?" He threw his hands up in exasperation. "It's like someone leaked your former self out of your ears and replaced you with some kind of nerdy, _responsible_ robot—and I have a feeling that Granger girl had _something_ to do with this."

Draco did not respond. Blaise stared at him. Suddenly, a dawn of light crossed his face.

"Waitaminute. You don't actually _like_--" Blaise looked as if he had seen a ghost.

"Well, I certainly find her intriguing." Draco drawled leisurely. "_Although_ she is a bit distasteful at times." He shook his head. "Her obsession with Harry Potter is one of the worst I've ever seen. It's right up there with Ginny Weasley and her singing valentine."

Blaise was staring at Draco, his mouth slightly open. "Do you _like_ that Granger girl?"

Draco turned away so Blaise wouldn't be able to see his face. "No." He said curtly. "Whatever gave you _that_ idea, Zabini?"

With that, he walked away, leaving the other Slytherin boy gaping at his retreating back.

* * *

"Why am I thinking about her all the time?" Harry said out loud in exasperation. Sighing, he straightened his pillow and then leaned more comfortably on his bed, contemplating on what had been happening so far.

Last night, Cho and he had…Harry blushed just thinking about it. But the only thing he could think of that night while they were together had been him wanting to kiss someone else. Someone else who had curly brown hair and a brain to combat Rowena Ravenclaw herself.

He was ashamed to have been thinking about her as he kissed Cho last night. He tried so hard to concentrate on the girl in front of him, thinking of how much he loved his sweet, dark-haired girlfriend but he simply failed. He knew that he wanted to be with Cho. Or maybe he just thought that he wanted her? How could he change his mind now that he finally got to be with Cho, right now?

Hermione and…that _ferret_ had caught them that night, and based on her reaction, she wasn't happy. What could Harry do? That day that Hermione confessed her feelings to him, he did feel the same way. But he was scared. He didn't want to ruin their friendship, and he also didn't want to make Ron a third wheel. He chose to go with his feelings for Cho because it was less complicated. If he went for Cho and they ended up realizing they weren't for each other, they had nothing to lose. But with Hermione…years of friendship with the two most important people to him would be wasted. He thought he had made the right decision. Did he end up making the wrong choice?

Sighing, Harry stood up and grabbed his jacket. He needed to take a walk to clear his head. Maybe it was time to pay a visit to Hagrid.

* * *

Hermione tried not to think about last night, but she couldn't. So she did what she always did whenever she was sad or depressed: go to the library to study. She was barely paying attention to where she was going, and almost dropped her books when she found Draco sitting on her usual spot, with a bouquet of pink tulips in his hands.

"Hello, Granger." He said casually, handing her the flowers. Hermione took them, unsure of what she should say or do. She wasn't even sure that this was even happening. _Draco Malfoy_, giving her flowers? Not only that, they weren't silver roses. What on earth was going on here?

"I thought you needed some cheering up." Draco added, although she wasn't sure of the emotion on his face. It was unreadable, as usual. Hermione was silent for a moment. Finally, she spoke.

"They're not your signature." She said softly. She couldn't think up of anything else to say.

"But they're your favorite." Draco replied, as he stood up. "I'll see you later."

He walked away.

Hermione's head was spinning. She didn't know how he found out about her favorite flowers, or why he was doing this, or how she even felt about it. She even thought that he was…sweet. He even delivered this…gift to her in person.

'_What is going on here?'_ She thought to herself. Nevertheless, it did feel kind of…nice…that _someone_ actually cared about her enough to cheer her up. Especially since she still did not have the guts to tell Ron.

Hermione touched the petals on her tulips, breathing in their scent. And, for the first time since last night, her face broke into a small smile.

* * *

Draco walked back to the common room after he had given Hermione the flowers. He noticed that his hands were shaking slightly. Was he actually…nervous? What gives? He had given lots of girls flowers before, and he had never even given second thoughts to any of them. But why now?

He thought back to his conversation with Blaise earlier.

_Blaise was staring at Draco, his mouth slightly open. "Do you _like_ that Granger girl?"_

_Draco turned away so Blaise wouldn't be able to see his face. "No." He said curtly. "Whatever gave you _that_ idea, Zabini?"_

Was that it? Did he like _her_?

_No_. He thought to himself. She's _Hermione Granger_, for Pete's sake, defender of house elves, geek girl extraordinaire and the president of the Harry Potter fan club. He couldn't possibly _like_ her.

_Maybe as a friend, _He finally decided. Nothing wrong with that.

He was still thinking about it as he closed his eyes to sleep that night.


	6. Chapter 6

The Malfoy Manual

Disclaimer: Harry Potter ain't mine.

VI.

* * *

Hermione did everything she could to look beautiful for the upcoming dance.

In the morning, she tried mashing a few fruits (taken from breakfast earlier) in her cauldron and making a sort of paste to put on her face. She was actually enjoying the refreshing feeling they made on her skin until she realized how stupid it was and washed it all off with a cloth towel.

Later on, she tried coordinating her dress with the right accessories, even resorting to turning them into different colors with magic just to see how it would turn out. It grew a little tiring, though, so she decided to go with the original color and didn't bother thinking about it again.

That afternoon, she tried her best to fix her hair and make-up so that it would be perfect to match her dress, but she was no good and had to submit herself to Ginny for damage control. The girl was a whiz, though, and in just an hour and thirty minutes Hermione could barely recognize herself in the mirror.

Draco had arrived to fetch her at exactly 7:00 sharp, and she was grateful that he _always_ arrived on time. She wasn't exactly keen on standing around in her heels for a long time, waiting for her date to come.

She cleared her throat expectantly as Draco rounded the corner and spotted her. She noticed a small change in his eyes, but other than that, there was nothing else to signify that he actually noticed her.

"Hello there." He said, not taking his eyes off her face. He looked like he didn't want to remove them anytime soon. Hermione smiled to herself. If she was getting this kind of attention from the King of Insults, then Harry was bound to like how she looked.

"I'm looking for my date. Her name's Granger." Draco added, holding out his hand. "Pleased to meet you."

Hermione scowled and swatted his hand away.

"You idiot!" She hissed. "_I'm_ Granger!"

Draco merely smirked.

"I'm just kidding." He replied. "I knew it was you from the start..."

_'...Beautiful.' _He added silently to himself, but he bit his tongue in time and the moment was gone.

"You don't look too bad yourself." Hermione said, giving him a once-over. Her heart skipped a beat, but she decided to ignore it. "Let's go."

"I'm all yours." Draco responded, taking her hand in his. He looked pleased that Hermione didn't protest and they walked to the Great Hall together, hand in hand.

* * *

"I really do not think this is a good idea for my _reputation_." Draco said. "People are bound to recognize who you are if they stare at you for more than a few minutes."

Hermione tried to ignore him but she couldn't help but feel irritated.

"You don't have to be here if you want some dumb blonde hooked on your arm." She retorted, rolling her eyes as a few girls swooned over Draco Malfoy, who was looking gorgeous in his fabulous new dress robes.

"Well, the little Potty still hasn't given you his time of day and my father practically kissed the ground in front of my feet when he found out that I was actually passing my subjects. I _did_ give you my word." He replied.

"Let me guess. You might be a scumbag, but you are not a liar?" She retorted, turning to look at him. He merely smirked.

"Right you are."

Hermione was suspicious but was also secretly pleased.

"So, are you ready to push through with Operation: Snag the Biggest Loser within Ten Feet of the Punch Table?"

"Very funny, Malfoy." Hermione said dryly, spotting Harry talking to Cho near the—well, punch table. "Just try to keep your mouth shut and look pretty on my arm."

"I don't even have to try." Draco responded, giving her a charming smile with an evil glint in his eye.

"I've decided that tonight is the night that we take it up a notch." Hermione said, watching Harry pour Cho a glass of punch. "I say that you should kiss me…right about…now."

Draco shrugged and kissed her on the cheek.

"No, not like that." Hermione protested. "On the lips. Under that mistletoe, near the tree."

For someone who had kissed girls under mistletoes countless times, Draco looked very surprised.

"What?" His eyebrows had shot up. "What do you mean, a kiss on the lips? I'm telling you now, Granger, I do not do _sissy_ kisses on the lips."

"It's not a big deal, really. People do it all the time. Harry has done it with Cho." She said huffily. "I want you to kiss me, right now_, _the way _he_ kissed _her_."

"You do not want me to kiss you." Draco responded, looking pointedly at her. "A kiss will show whether or not you're attracted to a person. If you're not attracted to me now, you sure will be after I'm done kissing you."

Hermione put her hands on her hips. "Well, _excuse_ me! I'm _not_ attracted to you. _Not one bit!_ And I won't ever be. So just kiss me and make it look like you want me."

Draco raised an eyebrow at her remark. "I've warned you." He said, simply. "I won't do it."

"You have no choice." Hermione said haughtily. "The Malfoy Manual clearly says--"

"Enough about that stupid rule book!" Draco interrupted. "This is your first kiss. You do not want to waste it on me."

"Stop talking like you care. Will you just do as I say? You've done this so many times! Just do what you always do!" Hermione was practically screaming.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Harry approaching them. She had to do it. So what if the mistletoe was five feet away? So what if Malfoy was being a whiny sissy? She had to do this, _now_.

"Granger, don't be stupi—" Draco was cut off as Hermione wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into her first kiss.

It was sweet and gentle at first, and then Draco slid his tongue into her mouth. Hermione felt herself flush with embarrassment, ashamed that he was kissing her like this in front of dozens of people, and ashamed that she was actually liking it. She distinctly heard someone clear his throat and was still a bit dizzy when Draco pulled away from her.

'_So that's what Malfoy's kisses feel like, no wonder all those girls always chase after him.'_ She thought. Her knees had suddenly grown weak. She looked at Harry and saw the confusion in his eyes through the stars in hers. She didn't know what to say. She had forgotten where she was and what she was supposed to do.

"Oh, hello there, Potter." Draco said languidly, snaking an arm around Hermione's waist in a casual show of possessiveness. Harry was looking darkly at the blonde-haired Slytherin. Suddenly, Hermione's stomach erupted into small butterflies. He was jealous. He was finally jealous. Her plan was working. The dizziness was still there. Faintly.

Harry's deadly gaze didn't leave Draco's face. Draco, on the other hand, was looking back coolly, without a hint of apprehension on his features at all. Hermione was torn between wanting to know what would happen next, and wanting to crawl into a hole on the floor and evaporate until this was over. Draco was the first to break the silence.

"Potter, you have just wasted thirty seconds of my life. I am not allowing you to waste any more." He said curtly, pulling Hermione away towards the dance floor. Harry caught Hermione's wrist in a vice-like grip, which startled her.

"We need to talk." He said. He was looking at her so intensely that Hermione actually felt a bit of fear. She felt Draco retracting his hand from her waist.

"Do you want to go?" Draco asked her curtly, his silver-grey eyes unreadable. They both knew what her answer was, anyway.

"Yes, yes, I'll go talk to Harry for a minute." Hermione sounded almost apologetic, which sounded strange to her ears. Why should she be sorry? She knew she was just using him, He knew she was just using him, they'd already talked about this before hand, why should she care about him now?

Draco half-shrugged and flicked his wrist at them in an impatient gesture. "Well, go ahead. I'd rather not stick around and find out what the little Potty is up to. I'll catch you later." He walked away towards his Slytherin friends who were gathered around the punch table without another word.

"Let's go." Harry said, pulling Hermione away from the crowd. She watched Draco walk away, and began to feel odd about agreeing to go with Harry. She felt like she needed to talk to Draco about what she felt about the kiss. That she needed to thank him about the pink tulips, which she never did. They never talked about it after their encounter at the library. Maybe it was really easier for them both to deny that it never happened, but it left her terribly hanging and it left a part of her empty inside.

What was it about Draco Malfoy? He made her laugh, and he thoroughly enjoyed torturing her. It was nothing like being with Harry. With Harry, she felt safe, comfortable, and secure. With Draco, it was different. It was like being with the devil, and it unleashed a mischievous side of her that she never knew existed. All that plotting and manipulating, all that talk of stealing Harry away from Cho. She never thought she was capable of such vile intentions against a fellow human being.

He was incredibly evil but also incredibly sexy. She realized now that she loved arguing with him, that she loved how he made her feel. Like she was important. Like her feelings were important. Like she deserved to be treated in a special way, that even something as stupid and trivial as her first kiss was something worth discussing over. What did he say again?

_This is your first kiss. You do not want to waste it on me._

_Had_ she wasted her first kiss?

"Hermione, what was that?"

Harry's words snapped her back to reality, and she realized that she was outside the Great Hall, outside of the castle, even. It was a little chilly outside, so she wrapped her arms around her tightly. Harry noticed, and let her have his jacket.

"Why did you kiss him?"

She could see the hurt in his eyes. Hermione had not wanted it to go that far. She didn't know what had gotten into her when she asked Draco Malfoy to kiss her. Maybe it was because she was hanging around him too much.

"I thought you've moved on, Harry."

She had replayed this moment in her mind, over and over, in her head. It wasn't going the way she had thought about it. In her dream, Harry would shove Draco away from her and claim her as his own. And then, she would be willingly enveloped in Harry's arms where she would stay forever and ever. It certainly did not involve her hesitation to talk to Harry, let alone feel her arch-nemesis' lips lingering on her own ten minutes past the kiss to make the boy she loved jealous.

"Do you like him, Hermione? Do you really like _Malfoy _over _me_?"

It was as if he could read her mind. If she had really wanted to be with Harry so badly, she could have told him that she was not, in anyway, choosing Malfoy over him. She could have thrown her arms around him and confessed her undying love for the boy who lived. She could have done anything and everything in her power to convince Harry that it was him that she wanted, but she didn't. She didn't know what made her reject him then, but it must've been the memory of Harry kissing Cho that night in the broom closet.

Or the trace of Draco Malfoy's lips that was still on hers.

"So what if I do, Harry?" Hermione finally said. "He's found something special in the same person that you threw away. Maybe he's better for me than you ever will be."

Harry did not know what to say. For a moment, he was silent, and then he took her hands into his and looked into her eyes. Hermione felt like she could no longer breathe.

"Hermione, I'm sorry. I was scared then. I didn't want to lose our friendship." His green eyes reflected his sadness. "I never meant to hurt you. I do care about you…"

He pulled her closer to him as he whispered into her ear. "…as more than a friend."


	7. Chapter 7

* * *

The Malfoy Manual

Disclaimer: Harry Potter ain't mine.

VII.

* * *

Hermione Granger was not in a good mood.

She had been sitting in the library for hours, waiting for a certain blonde-haired Slytherin to come, but he never showed up. She had finished all her homework and had even been _worried_ about him, until she stopped and mentally tortured herself for the thought. The nerve of that ferret! First he stands her up, then he makes her feel like she has to _think_ about him and wonder whether he was alright?! She certainly would have a word with him, and it would have to involve her very impatient hands wringing his slimy Slytherin neck.

Furious, she grabbed her books and stomped off to the Slytherin common room, where she spotted the good-for-nothing-son-of-a-bad-word outside the hall, talking to a flashy redhead who was openly flirting with him.

"Draco Malfoy!" She barked, and this caused the redhead to run guiltily in the opposite direction. Hermione was staring daggers at her retreating back.

"Thanks for saving me. She was definitely boring me to death with her useless trivia about nail polish colors." He said, calmly looking at his own fingernails.

"You sure looked like you were enjoying yourself." She spat out, not caring that she was making such a fuss in front of a whole bunch of Slytherin strangers, schoolmates that she barely even knew, let alone be able to call by their names.

"Why, Granger? Are you _jealous_?" Draco smirked. "I told you what would happen if you kissed me."

Hermione could feel herself flush. "I am _not_ attracted to you! For your information, we had an agreement! The manual says--!"

"The manual says that the agreement ends as soon as you get your pathetic excuse of a man." Draco cut in smoothly. "That sniveling little Potty came crawling back to you last night. I'm surprised to even find you here." He added, an unreadable expression on his face.

At this, Hermione was at a loss for words. She opened and closed her mouth like a dying fish out of water, but no sound came out.

"What is it, Granger?" Draco inched closer to her until he had her pinned against the wall. "You like me, don't you?" He whispered into her ear. Hermione felt goose bumps start to form at the back of her neck. A small shiver ran down her spine.

"I do _not_!" She said haughtily, pushing him away although she was sure she was a bright shade of red at the time. "I do _not_ like you! You're an obnoxious, self-centered—"

"—arrogant but incredibly delicious jerk that you want to take a bite off, don't you, Granger?" Draco interrupted, a huge smirk plastered on his face. Hermione felt her face get redder, if that was even possible.

"We're not finished." She said unconvincingly. "Harry still hasn't broken up with Cho."

It _was_ true. After Harry had (finally) admitted that he liked her as more than a friend, he went on to say that he didn't want Cho to get hurt so he wanted to wait for the right time to tell her. When that was going to be, Hermione didn't know. All she knew now was that she did _not_ want to lose spending time with Malfoy.

Of course, she was never going to admit that out loud.

"Fine. I'll do it. I gave you my word." Draco said with a sigh, as if he had other things better to do with his time. "But don't ask for my help when you want to get rid of him. I've worked far too hard getting you both together to have it all ruined by your unwanted feelings for the Slytherin sex god."

Hermione didn't know whether to slap him or compliment him for his ingenious and apt description of himself.

"Dream on, Malfoy. I don't like you and I _never_ will."

She thought she could see a glimmer of hurt in his eyes as he smirked, but Hermione blinked and it was gone.

* * *

"Ron, I think I'm in trouble."

Her redheaded best friend didn't even roll over and face her from the couch where he was lying, absorbed in a particularly nasty looking comic book.

"What is it now, Hermione? Did you accidentally kill Malfoy because of your treaty thingamajiggie and have come to ask for help to hide his cold, lifeless body?"

"No, Ron, this is serious." She took a deep breath. "I think I'm in like with him."

"Who?" Ron didn't even skip a beat. "Harry? I know, 'Mione. You've told me that a bazillion times, and you've marked it in permanent ink in almost all my notebooks despite my protests that you use your own."

"No, not Harry. I think I like _Malfoy_."

Hermione could feel that Ron was rolling his eyes even though his back was to her.

"Cut the crap, Hermie. Harry is not here and I could care less about your get-Harry-jealous-with-a-worthless-bastard-plan."

"Ron, this is for real. I think I like him for real." Hermione's voice was panicked. "What am I going to do? What am I going to doooo?"

Suddenly, she grabbed him by the neck. Ron felt like she was strangling the living daylights out of him.

"Her…mion….eee…can't….breathe…."

She let him go, a bit out of breath although she was the one who did the strangling.

"Geez, Hermione. I can't help you if you kill me." Ron said irritably. "Are you seriously, 100 percent sure that you have feelings for that filthy rat?"

Hermione was unable to answer out loud, but inside her head, a teeny tiny voice had said yes.

* * *

She did not know what it was that made her do this.

Hermione Granger, perfect student, Head Girl, and every teacher's favorite pupil, had sneaked into the Slytherin common room using her connections with the house elves.

She found him fast asleep on the couch, a book lying on his stomach. He looked adorable, which she would never, ever in a billion years admit out loud. His face looked peaceful, as if he were having a very pleasant dream.

It took all of her will power to not walk right up to him and kiss him as he slept. She did, however, find herself kneeling beside him a while later, and how she got there, she did not know. She was transfixed; she could barely remember where she was anymore.

She leaned closer and found that her face was inches away from his. _'He's asleep.'_ She thought to herself. _'He won't know anything, let alone remember.'_

Before she knew it, she had closed her eyes and was moving closer and closer to his lips, until…

…a drop of saliva beat her to it first.

It was sufficient enough to awaken the sleeping dragon. Hermione knew from the reaction on his face that this was not going to turn out pretty.

"What in the WORLD are you doing?" Draco hollered, wiping her bit of drool from his face. "What the _heck_? Were you SALIVATING on me?"

"Shut up!" She hissed back. "You'll wake up the whole house!"

"What the hell?" Draco whispered harshly. "What are you doing to me? What are you doing HERE?"

"Well…" Hermione trailed off. She felt herself growing warm. Why did he always have to be around during these situations when she was embarrassing herself?

"If you were trying to seduce me, you weren't doing very much of a good job." Draco said crossly.

"Seduce _you_!" Hermione retorted indignantly. "I was NOT trying to seduce you! There was just something on your face that I wanted to wipe off." She added, lamely. Draco looked at her skeptically.

"So you used your drool to make sure it went off? In the middle of the night? In the _SLYTHERIN common room_?"

"You do not have to make such a _fuss_ about it!" She said huffily, crossing her arms over her chest. "Well, I'm leaving. So much for getting to talk to you tonight." She stood up and was about to leave when Draco caught her wrist.

"Wait. I'll walk you back." He said, as if in surrender. Hermione didn't reply.

They walked together in silence for a while, each deeply absorbed in his or her own thoughts, until Draco broke the stillness of the air with his voice.

"So…what happened during your talk last night?"

She didn't even need to clarify anything. Clearly they were thinking about the same thing.

She couldn't answer for a while. She didn't know where to start. She had so many things that she wanted to tell him. For a moment, she was overwhelmed.

He took it as a sign that everything went well. That everything went according to plan. And by that, he meant that she and Harry had acted the way they were supposed to and were now ready to live in each other's arms and march to their very own happily ever after.

"Did you already pick out your children's names?" Draco said, in a voice that was devoid of all emotion. "Set a wedding date, perhaps? You'd be lucky if the Potty actually knew what to do during your wedding night. Or perhaps there was no talking involved, did you just gaze into each other's eyes with tender care and proclaim your undying love for each other? Do tell, Granger."

He was rambling. She could tell. She could also sense the sarcasm that was dripping from every word in his little speech.

"Actually, there was nothing of the sort." Hermione replied. "Like I said, he and Cho are still together. He's still waiting for the right time to be with me."

Draco snorted. "Sounds like he's only trying to get to you because you're dating _me_."

Hermione was taken aback. "What are you talking about? So you think he only wants me now because of _you_? Harry wants me because of _me_! You just helped him _realize_ that!"

His eyes were cold when he looked at her. "I know every trick in the book, Granger. Your little Potty came crawling back to you last night because he didn't want you to run off with an arrogant Slytherin bastard. If you lose interest in me, you'll see. He'll drop you quicker than a hot coal that's landed on his hands and he'll be beside that Oriental chick in two seconds flat."

Hermione was positively livid when she heard his words.

"Unlike _you_." She said, furiously. "Harry has a heart. Harry _cares_ about me. He likes me as _more than a friend_. You don't care about anyone but _yourself_! That's why he agreed that _we_ can never be together--"

"_We?_" Draco interrupted with a sharp intake of breath. "You. And me. _We_?"

Hermione was silent. She wished she could just waft the words back into her mouth, swallow them, and then belch something out completely. But she couldn't, of course, so she just tried her best to look like she didn't care. That she had no idea what he was talking about.

"You talked to Potty about _us_?" He said, quietly.

"Well, uh…he might…uh… have had some ideas that we were…uh…actually…really…uh…going out." Hermione stammered. So much for not caring and not knowing what he was talking about.

Draco raised an eyebrow at her. "Do you really think that a geek girl from Gryffindor and a grade-complacent sex god from Slytherin could actually get together and, I don't know, make babies?"

She heard something in his voice that sounded very much like half-hearted sarcasm but could also be mistaken for…hope? Oh, _noooooooooo_. You have _got _to be kidding. Did he seriously say that with _hope_ in his voice?

"You like me, don't you?" She asked boldly, moving closer to him.

"Do not." He replied in a huff.

"Do too."

"Do _not_."

"Do _too_."

"_Do not."_

"_Do too."_

"Will you stop that? I hate it when you make me act like an 8-year-old." Draco said angrily.

"So just admit that you like me!" Hermione replied, annoyed.

"I do _not_ like you. Muggle."

"Ferret."

"Know-it-all."

"Womanizer."

"Geek."

"Bastard."

"Liar." Hermione said. Draco frowned. He was obviously upset.

"What do you _want_, Granger? Do you want me to admit that I like you? You want me to say those three little words, get your hopes up, and force you to be with me knowing full well what my reputation is like? Do you think Harry would still want you after I'm through with you? Do you think any man would?"

Hermione could not say anything.

"You and I know that you're just using me to get through to that pathetic little Potty of yours. You don't even have to put up this whole façade of pretending that you care about what I think of you. What is this for? Revenge? To prove to yourself that you're better than me, that you can toy with my feelings? I'm starting to think that maybe deep down inside, under that good girl exterior of yours is a manipulative, evil skank that is much worse than _me_."

Her mind rang with his insults. She could feel tears wanting to come out of her eyes. No one had ever accused her of anything that Draco was saying. It hurt to have someone say those words to her. It hurt even more to have someone she liked say those words to her.

"I hate you." She said quietly, her eyes filled with hurt as she looked at him.

Draco sneered at her.

"And I hate that _I like you_."

Hermione was too stunned to say anything as he walked away. She willed herself to move, but she just couldn't do anything but play his words over and over again in her mind.

* * *

When Hermione arrived in the Gryffindor common room, her face was flushed and she was grinning like an idiot. Finally, it had registered in her head that Draco Malfoy, seven-year award winner of most arrogant ass of the year actually had a _crush_ on her. She was pretty sure that she felt exactly the same way. Even though things really hadn't gone smoothly between them, she was sure that she could talk to him and fix all these misconceptions about her and Harry tomorrow. He did have a point. Harry _did_ say that he really was into Cho and all that. She realized now that she didn't have to ruin her best friend's relationship to have her own. She was about to tiptoe back to her bed when she heard a shuffle from the couch.

"Where have you been?" It was Harry. He was eyeing her beadily. Hermione stared at him guiltily.

"Did you see Malfoy?" Harry's eyes were accusing. "You were gone an awfully long time."

Hermione was shocked that he was actually…_stalking_ her.

"Well, yeah." She said, finally. "We had to talk."

Harry stood up from the couch and walked closer to her. "Hermione, I'm not sure you heard me at the party last night, you were too busy looking at something over my shoulder, but…you did hear me say that I liked you as more than a friend, right?"

Hermione shrugged. "Harry, it's okay. You don't have to break up with Cho. Things with Malfoy are…"

'_Shaky? Problematic? Confusing?'_ She thought. But she didn't say anything out loud. Harry put his hands on her shoulders.

"Hermione, I know that ferret has something up his sleeve. With me, you're safe. You don't have anything to worry about."

He was moving dangerously close to her now.

The butterflies in her stomach were still there. But only faintly. What Hermione remembered at that moment was Draco's lips on hers.

_I hate you._

"Hermione, you love me, right?" Harry whispered. She opened her mouth to speak, but Harry had already covered it with his.

_I hate that I like you._

* * *


	8. Chapter 8

The Malfoy Manual

Disclaimer: Harry Potter ain't mine.

VIII.

"We need to talk."

All Hermione got from him was a raised eyebrow. She rolled her eyes with a sigh. What was his problem? And more than that, what was _her_ problem, telling Draco _Malfoy_ that she actually _needed_ to talk to him?

The world must be coming to an end.

That must have been what the Slytherins sitting beside Draco during breakfast must have thought too, because they were staring at her as if she had grown three heads and tentacles.

Draco didn't bother glancing at his posse as he turned to Hermione.

"I thought we've established last night that you hated me, Granger." Draco drawled. "That means that you do not _want_ to talk to me, much less _need_ to."

Hermione clenched her fists. Why was he being so freaking _difficult_?

"It's about our contract." She mustered, willing her brain to delete the memory of Harry kissing her last night. "The Malfoy---"

"—Manual. How can I forget?" Draco sighed.

"Let's go somewhere more private." Hermione said, motioning for him to follow her. She had actually gone a few steps away from the Slytherin table when she realized that he wasn't following her.

"Get your butt over here, Malfoy." Hermione barked. There was acid in her tone. The look in her eyes was enough to make Pansy shudder.

Draco finally obeyed.

* * *

Hermione tried not to imagine making out with him too much.

Being so near to him in an empty hallway was making her stomach turn and her imagination run wild.

"What about the contract?" Draco said impatiently, his hands crossed over his chest.

"Harry…is not acting the way I wanted him to." Hermione said, not daring to meet his eyes.

"That's not my problem anymore." He replied. "I don't understand the ways of idiots, so I can't help you interpret _any _of his actions."

"Maybe we should do something else." Hermione said quickly. "Maybe we can make a new strategy. Something that will really catch his attention."

"Like sex?" Draco asked. His expression didn't even change. Hermione blushed.

"Uhmm…no. Not yet. But maybe in the future." She said, flustered. "Maybe you could ask me out on a date again. You know, just hang out. Maybe even a study date?"

She tried to squeeze the hope out of her voice, but the little high-pitched squeak she let out sounded a bit odd to Draco, but not yet enough to give her away.

"Another date?" He didn't look at her as he spoke. "We've been on dates countless times. If those didn't work, nothing ever will."

"Well…during our dates we're a bit…relaxed." She replied. "Maybe we could do other things next time. Something gaudier."

"Whatever you say." Draco said. He had turned his back to her and was on the way off to God-knows-where when Hermione grabbed his hand.

"I just want to be with you." She said, softly.

She hadn't even realized what she had done until Draco had pulled his hand away and stormed off.

Hermione was stunned. She really wished she had an invisibility cloak at that moment. She would kick his balls and then flee with the remaining dignity that she had, and he would never be able to find her.

* * *

Draco's heart was pounding loudly in his chest.

He had tried everything. He had tried insulting himself, disowning himself, _heck_, he had even tried threatening to drown himself in the lake with the giant squid. But the feeling was still there, and seemed adamant at not wanting to disappear from the face of the universe.

_I am not in love with Hermione Granger_. He thought stubbornly. _I am not in love with Hermione Granger. I am not in love with Hermione Granger._

If he thought it a million times, he reasoned, he was bound to brainwash himself. Didn't it happen all the time with Crabbe and Goyle? Lots of people have told them that they were stupid; the way they acted could clearly be an effect of people's constant reminder of that certain quality. Hence, the repetition.

_I am not in love with Hermione Granger. I am not in love with Hermione Granger._

Seriously, who would want to be with a smart-alecky Muggle who hung around with boys who fought monsters and Dark Lords? She was clearly unfit for a Malfoy, a wizard of his class and standing. Why on earth would _he_ be in love with someone like _her_?

_I am not in love with Hermione Granger. I am not in love with Hermione Granger._

She would just be a disgrace to him, his parents would never approve. Add to the fact that she was a total Potter-worshipper. As if a Malfoy would ever want to be associated with anyone who has spent even 3 minutes with scar-face and enjoyed it. They were obviously people with poor taste and no social sense at all.

_I am not in love with Hermione Granger. I am not in love with Hermione Granger._

Why would anyone be attracted to a plain-faced woman of her limited capacity? She wasn't even witty at all; she tried too hard to fit into school. She was incapable of scheming. The Malfoy Manual? What was she, a first-grader? Only someone like Harry Potter couldn't see through that transparent, elementary plan. What kind of idiot-making brain-washing device do they have installed in the Gryffindor common room, anyway?

_I am not in love with Hermione Granger. I am not in love with Hermione Granger._

_Oh, fuck it. _He thought_. I am so in love with Hermione Granger. _

_

* * *

  
_

He wasn't looking anywhere near her face that night.

They were going through with their date, yes. It was quite romantic, actually, if they weren't completely ignoring one another. Draco had used his Head Boy powers to shoo the couples that usually made out in the Astronomy Tower and had transformed it into a private dining room of sorts. There were twinkling lights and a table for two and lots of candles. He had even charmed a few instruments to play sweet music on their own. A house elf catered to their every whim and command. Even Hermione had to admit that he really did know how to treat a girl—too bad he didn't seem to think that she was one at the moment.

She was restless, with butterflies fluttering in her stomach and anger boiling in her veins. She didn't know if they would just be sitting there all night, not doing anything until Harry was supposed to show up via Ron telling him that something was going on up in the Astronomy Tower that he had to check out.

"Why aren't you talking, Malfoy? We have a contract here." There was anger in her voice, but inside, she wished he weren't here because of the manual. She wished he were here because of…

"I'll pretend when I have to." He replied. He was staring at the sky, where a streak of stars danced in the moonlight. "Don't you find it tiring to put up pretenses all the time, just for…_him_?"

She cringed slightly when she heard how he spat out the word. "No, not at all." She said. _Who said I was pretending?_ She thought, but she didn't dare say it out loud.

It was at that moment that they heard footsteps.

Draco jumped to life in an instant. He suddenly roared with laughter. Hermione did not know where he learned how to act so well.

"If you weren't a Muggle, my dear, I would really consider marrying you right here, right now." He winked at her with a smile.

Hermione could feel herself swooning. She knew it was pretend. It was _pretend_. She was about to open her mouth to reply when she felt a familiar hand on her shoulder.

"Ron told me you'd be here with him, Hermione, and I thought of taking advantage of this opportunity." Harry said, looking triumphantly at Draco. She couldn't speak. She didn't know what the hell was going on.

Draco's face was devoid of any emotion.

"I'm not sure you haven't heard of this yet, Ferret." Harry said, a slow smile creeping along his lips. "But Hermione and I…well, we kissed last night."

There was a flicker in Draco's eyes, but he didn't move. Hermione did not know what to do. There were a million things that were flashing through her brain and she did not know which course of action she should follow.

"I guess you were fun to be with for a while, Ferret. But Hermione has found the one for her, and that's me. She has chosen me. And tonight, I am choosing her."

Hermione could only watch in horror as Harry knelt down beside her, took her hand in his, and looked into her eyes. "Hermione, be my girlfriend. I know that we're meant for each other."

"Thank heavens my obligation is over." Draco said abruptly, as he stood up. "Take good care of her. All she ever wanted was to be with you."

And as Harry pulled her close while Draco's footsteps faded into the darkness, Hermione felt the tears come as she finally claimed her prize.


	9. Chapter 9

The Malfoy Manual

Disclaimer: Harry Potter ain't mine.

IX.

_

* * *

_

The next day, Hermione didn't care about what anyone thought anymore.

So what if she hurt Harry by choosing to reject him and not be his girlfriend?

So what if people thought she was crazy and suicidal and incapable of making decisions that did not involve intensive research and heavy books that you can kill dragons with?

So what if she was in love with the narcissistic, impossibly arrogant and annoying ferret?

She was tired of having to _pretend_ all the time. She was just going to go ahead and force him to be _hers_, even if she had to bloody chain him to the Whomping willow and use _Crucio_ on him until he finally caved in.

With unwavering determination and the person-to-chain binding spell tucked securely in her pocket, she marched right to the Quidditch field where the Slytherins were supposed to be practicing that day.

She would handle Malfoy first. She would tell Harry later on. Eventually.

The sun was shining brightly and the sky was clear when she stepped into the field. There were already streaks of green high up in the air, probably the Slytherins who were doing warm-up rounds before they begun training. She decided to watch a little before she started to grab Draco's attention.

She was surprised when one of the Slytherins flew down to the ground and started walking towards her. She was shocked when she found out that it was Draco Malfoy.

"What are you doing here?" He asked her coolly, his face unreadable.

"I wanted to talk to you." She replied. Her heart was beating furiously in her chest. _Just say it, Hermione._ She thought to herself. _Say It. I love you. Say it. Say it, for crying out loud, you big sissy wuss!_

She opened her mouth to speak, but he beat her to it.

"I no longer have any business with you." He replied, his eyes dark. "But I was going to return this."

He handed her the manual that started it all. He was turning to leave when Hermione grabbed him by his robes.

"You may ignore me now, but I'll still see you during our rounds tonight. And we're going to talk." She could be stubborn if she wanted to. Maybe all she needed was a little time. And some practice. Then, she would be able to say _it_.

"I don't care." Was all he said, and then he was off.

Since things did not go so well with Draco, Hermione decided to take a walk and rehearse the things that she wanted to tell him. She hadn't quite expected to be so afraid to just spit it out and get it over with. If Draco felt the same way, then all was well and good. But if he didn't, well then, at least she had tried.

She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she almost didn't notice Harry and Cho Chang by the staircase, _kissing_.

"Ugh, why don't you get a room." She spat at them as she passed by, and she could see Harry's eyes open wide in alarm.

"Hermione!" His face was still flushed and she could tell that he did not quite want her to see that he was sticking his tongue down Cho's throat just a few hours after he told Hermione to be his girlfriend.

Hermione decided to ignore them and walk ahead to the Gryffindor common room.

"Hermione, wait!" Harry was obviously still flustered. "It's not what it looks like. I told you, I wanted to wait for the right moment---"

Hermione took a deep breath. It was now or never.

"Harry, I don't want you to break up with Cho. I don't want you to be with me." She looked up into Harry's confused eyes. She sighed. "I'm in love with him, Harry."

The next few seconds were amusing to Hermione as she watched Harry's face go from shock, to confusion, to realization and finally, to disgust.

"Hermione, are you sure?" He asked, watching her closely. He probably expected her to crack into a grin and procure a large flag saying, "Just Kidding!" out of her robes.

"Harry, I know he's an arrogant piece of ass and that he's not exactly loyal, but I really like him a lot. He gives me a new perspective on things, he makes me think about what's really important in life, and I care about him. I really do."

His mouth was opening and closing as if he were a dying fish. Finally, he said: "So, you and Malfoy, huh?"

Hermione smiled.

Harry placed his hand on her shoulder in a show of support, to her relief. She was glad that he understood. It was easier somehow. At least Harry didn't scream, "Traitor!" and proceed to stab her to death with his wand for dating his arch-enemy.

"Just one thing." Harry said, before they went inside the common room. "Tell Malfoy that if he hurts you, I'll shove a stick up his ass."

Hermione laughed. She was glad that she and Harry were friends again.

* * *

Hermione was so sure that Draco was not talking just to get on her nerves.

When they started the rounds, they were fairly civil enough. She greeted him Hello and he nodded in acknowledgment. She proceeded on telling him everything—starting with how she was in love with Harry and how she got the idea to enlist Draco's help to make Harry jealous, how she started to think that Harry wasn't the one for her, how happy she was to be spending time with Draco, how she wished that their relationship was real, how sorry she was if she hurt him. It was only when she finished her story did she realize that Draco did not say a thing throughout it all.

At first, she thought it was because he was still angry. But he looked calm enough, so she begun to ask him all sorts of questions, trying to pry an answer out of him. Her next theory was that Draco didn't believe her and so was ignoring her, in case she was lying. She knew that he hated liars.

"You told me once that you could make a good truth serum. Use it on me." Her eyes were ablaze with determination. Draco was still silent.

"Don't you have anything you want to say?" She said angrily, her hands on her hips. "I've been talking to you all night, trying to tell you I have feelings for you, and you just freaking stand there as if you were made out of stone."

She pushed him on his chest. Maybe if she got physical, it would elicit even an_ "Ow!" _or _"Bitch!" _from him. Anything. She would take it.

"Why are you so quiet?" She was furious, and she was pushing Draco with all her might, again and again. Draco was not budging at all. "You are such an evil person." She ranted, pushing him. Again. And again. And again. To outsiders, she would have seemed like a whiny little brat with an attitude problem. Draco was probably annoyed, deep down inside. Please?

She pushed him again, and again and again. Finally, Draco must have had enough. He caught her by her wrists and pinned her to the wall.

Hermione hissed angrily and she kicked at him with her legs. She wanted to tear his eyes out for being so stoic and anti-social for the past hour or so. She was sick of his silence and she wanted to hear his voice so bad that she was willing to provoke him into saying something by acting like a wild, raging, lunatic.

"I think you're retarded!" She said loudly. "Are all these facts too much for your teeny tiny brain to process? Well I'll---"

And then, he kissed her.

Like the last time, it was soft and sweet at first, and then his mouth claimed hers with a passion. Draco's hands slid to her waist and Hermione was thankful that she had the wall behind her, else she would have fainted right then and there. She knew that she belonged here, with him, and all that mattered to her was this moment that she wished would last forever.

Finally, he broke the kiss.

"I like you, too." He said slowly, even shyly. Hermione felt a shiver go up her spine.

"Then why are you so quiet?" She asked, finally calm, enjoying the feeling of her being wrapped in Draco's arms.

"I'm scared." He whispered hesitantly, his eyes never leaving hers. "I don't like getting hurt."

"I won't hurt you." She whispered back, and she meant it.

"I trust you." He smiled. And for the first time that night, Hermione did not mind that he fell silent as he held her, lost in his thoughts, but finally in the arms of the girl he had found worthy of opening his heart to.

* * *

This is the second to the last chapter. Review~you know you want to. :)


	10. Chapter 10

The Malfoy Manual

Disclaimer: Harry Potter ain't mine.

X

* * *

"Good morning!" Hermione said cheerfully, kissing Draco fully on the lips at the Slytherin's table.

Several things happened at once. Blaise choked on his food, Pansy dropped her fork, and Crabbe's and Goyle's jaws dropped open in astonishment. They looked even more confused and dumbfounded than usual.

"Good morning." Draco greeted back, slightly amused by his friends' reactions but showing no sign that he noticed whatsoever. Hermione could swear that the tips of his ears were slightly pink. She would have to ask him about that, later on.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" Hermione asked as she sat down beside him. Blaise looked as if he was going to faint anytime soon. Pansy was staring at them as if they were some sort of circus show. Crabbe and Goyle were already back to breakfast, their faces smudged with bits of scrambled eggs and bacon.

"Well, now that you and I are _together_." Draco said loudly. Hermione heard Blaise make an anguished sound akin to a dying cat that was ran over by a lawnmower. The blood had completely gone from his face.

"I was wondering if you wanted to spend the night with me." Draco added casually. It was Hermione's turn to go white.

"Spend the n-n-night?" She sputtered. "With y-y-you?" She didn't know what he had in mind. Oh wait, she did. Spending the night with Draco Malfoy only meant one thing to any girl at Hogwarts.

"Yes, spend the night. With me." Draco said patiently, as if he had been through this conversation a million times. Hermione stared.

"Anyway, I'll see you during our rounds tonight." He stood up as the first bell rang. "And _after_." He whispered huskily in her ear. Hermione felt a shiver run down her spine.

She was so absorbed in her own thoughts that she didn't even notice that she was alone in the Great Hall until the second bell rang.

* * *

Hermione couldn't concentrate on any of her classes that day. Even Professor McGonagall was so concerned that she wasn't acting like herself that she wanted to send her to Madam Pomfrey for a check-up. Hermione had to lie that she had problems with her parents and was just worried about them.

'_Damn that ferret_.' She fumed silently. '_Always causing me trouble_.'

Deep down inside she was excited, but she would never admit it. She knew now what Draco's kisses felt like, and now she wondered what would happen if… she blushed just thinking about it. Naughty thoughts had never been natural to her. The relationship she had imagined with Harry was innocent and probably even childish. When she imagined being with him, she thought of snuggling, not of snogging. It was not the same with Draco Malfoy.

She sighed as she remembered the feel of his lips on hers, his arms wrapped around her waist…

"Ms. Hermione Granger!"

She jumped at the sound of Professor Flitwick's stern voice interrupting her thoughts. For someone so tiny, she never realized that he could make a sound that loud.

"I-I'm sorry, Professor." She said. She wanted to dig herself into a hole and die. She had never, ever been this distracted in a class before.

'_Damn that stupid ferret.' _She thought. But she continued daydreaming about him, anyway.

* * *

Hermione was shaking when she stepped into Draco's special room—the private bedroom his family had obtained after a generous donation for a new wing at Hogwarts. She had wanted to wear something more special than her everyday pajamas, but she had never expected to sleep with someone in the middle of the school year, and so she had to make do with what she had. Her mouth hung open as she realized that Draco was already lying in bed, his chest exposed and only the silken sheets covering his lower half.

"Why are you so nervous?" He asked her with a frown. He patted the space on the huge bed beside him.

"This is where you'll sleep." He said with a smile, and Hermione noticed that there was an evil glint in his eyes. Or maybe it was just that a small lamp was the only source of light in the room, and it was dark.

She slid into her half of the bed, steeling herself for the activities that were yet to come. She hadn't wanted to get so physical in just a few days, but she trusted Draco and she knew that he would take care of her. She hoped that he would be happy that he was her first, and that he would be satisfied even if she really had no experience about what they were about to do whatsoever…

He was looking at her intently, and Hermione could feel her heart beating faster and faster. It was getting harder to breathe as he moved closer. He was just inches from her face. He reached out to touch her cheek, and his thumb traced her lips.

"You are so beautiful." He whispered. And then he kissed her on the forehead, rolled over, turned off the night light and went to sleep.

Hermione was shocked. What was this? Was this a ritual of sorts, to get him in the mood? She waited for a few minutes until she heard Draco snoring softly.

She wanted to strangle him. First, he invites her to his bed, wearing nothing. Then he kisses her and goes to sleep? The nerve of that ferret!

She was so annoyed at him, but also very sleepy, and so she closed her eyes and succumbed to the peaceful tranquility of the night.

* * *

The next day, Hermione woke up to find Draco's arm around her and she instinctively snuggled closer to him. It took her a full five minutes to remember what had happened last night--or rather, what had _not_ happened last night--and she angrily threw his arm off her in a show of rebellion.

"My, my. You're feisty in the morning." He said huskily. So he had a morning voice that she thought was sexy. So effing what? _Nothing_ happened between them last night and she had daydreamed about it the whole day!

Fuming, she grabbed her change of clothes and marched to the shower room.

Moments later, they were already seated at breakfast. Draco knew exactly what was going through Hermione's mind.

"Did you want to do _something_ with me last night, Granger?" He teased, and Hermione realized that she had given it away when she blushed from head to toe and stabbed her French toast quite violently with a knife. She could feel Draco's smirk burning into the side of her head.

"What's it to you?" She said grumpily. Her French toast was in pieces now.

"Why are you rushing into this? We've only began dating officially for a couple of days." Draco said, with a chuckle.

Hermione wanted to slap him. "Why?" She turned to face him. "Am I not good enough for you? You're willing to do it with every girl in Hogwarts, except me?"

His eyes showed that he was amused although his face showed no sign of it. "That's because you're special to me. I've slept with countless girls on that bed. I want my memories with you to be in a different place."

Hermione still pretended to be angry although she was very flattered with what he said. She continued to stab her French toast with her knife.

"Forgive me?" He asked her, with a smile.

"Not until you finish your homework." Hermione said triumphantly, as Draco groaned in absolute disgust.

* * *

The train station was crowded as the Hogwarts students were finally reuniting with their families and loved ones after a grueling year at the school of magic. Hermione could see her parents waving at her from a distance. She took a deep breath as Draco's hold on her hand tightened.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye then." He told her, and there was a hint of sadness in his voice that he did not want to show on his face.

"I'll see you soon." She replied, squeezing his hand reassuringly. "And, you can always write to me."

"I will." He promised. He took her in his arms and kissed her. Hermione smiled at him after she had broken the kiss.

"Well, goodbye, ferret." She said.

"See you, mudblood." He replied, as he let her go. She walked away towards her family, who were waiting for her.

She had just taken a few steps when she heard him yelling.

"Hey Granger!" He called to her, a few seconds after she had turned to leave. "Come back."

Hermione rolled her eyes. Honestly, he could be a tad bit demanding at times.

"What is it?" she asked, moving back towards him.

He slipped a piece of parchment into her hand. "I'll have the guts to say this out loud next time." He said. There was a small glint in his eyes that Hermione did not like. "Just not today." And with that, he made his way through the throng of people who were chattering away around them, towards his own family. Frowning, Hermione unrolled the piece of parchment in her hand.

_I love you, Hermione._

_-D.M._

_

* * *

  
_

Yay! All done. Tell me what you think of the entire thing, especially what you liked most and/or liked least about my story and/or writing style. I love comments so I can improve. So, review!

I am in need of a beta-reader for my new HG/DM fic, Renegade. If you want to be my beta-reader or can recommend me to a good one, please message me. (I really don't know how beta-readers work, so please recommend me a really friendly and patient one. ^_^)

Check out the first chapter, it's already up :)


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